Category Archives: rants & health

Once again, fellow travelers the highest intelligentsia on the shortcomings and outrage of what it means to confront why so fat throws down the gauntlet. A recent interview in the Harvard Gazette has Professor Susan Greenhalgh, a Harvard anthropologist; briefly discuss her new book Fat-Talk Nation: The Human Costs of America’s War on Fat. According to Professor Greenhalgh, “Our country’s high levels of obesity are a serious problem, but the way we’re approaching it is not working to reduce obesity in adults or prevent it in children. Moreover, it is doing real, measurable damage to ourselves, our psyches, our relationships, our families, and especially our young people” (Sweeney, 2015).

Mount Horeb

This righteous treatise was conceived from Greenhalgh’s The Woman and the Body class and born on the Mount Horeb of U.C., Irvine. Ever the enterprising proselytizer, Dr. Greenhalgh elucidates on the birth of her holy book, “I was teaching this course and decided to offer students extra credit for writing an essay on diet, weight, and the [body-mass index] in the life of someone they know well. Their essays left me stunned and saddened. So many were accounts of happy, carefree childhoods that were abruptly ended by a medical diagnosis of “overweight” or “obese,” or that came apart slowly as kids were badgered and bullied about their weight. And it was not just heavier kids who were suffering; people of every weight category, including underweight and normal, felt unhappy about their bodies and miserable about their lives” (Sweeney, 2015).

Let us pause and reflect on the last quotation. A medical diagnosis is an objective fact arrived at by a sound corpus of collected science distilled into a few words. It explains an empirical fact that really cannot be denied given the presented evidence. A medical diagnosis is the first step in treating an observed disease, in this case, obesity. Without this diagnosis, an effective algorithm of treatment cannot be started in a rational way. The diagnosis may not be pleasant to hear, but comfort can be taken in the fact that a course of treatment can be prescribed. The quotation goes on to proscribe bullying children about weight and various body types in general. There is bullying and then there is bullying. Vicious or physical bullying of any kind should be condemned, but there is a fine line when it comes to teasing or joking about one’s physical attributes. This has gone on from time immemorial; it is an attribute of the human condition and as such, try as the fat activists might, will not change.

Harvard Professor of Anthropology Susan Greenhalgh is pictured in her home. Her new book “Fat Talk Nation” discusses the human costs of America’s war on obesity. Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer

Professor Greenhalgh continues, “The dominant narrative about weight in America stresses how high levels of obesity are harming the nation by worsening health, raising health care costs, and undermining economic productivity. The stories my students were telling — about the human harm done by the war on fat itself — are virtually unknown. The human costs of the nation’s fight against fat have not been tallied up or even acknowledged, and so remain invisible to the public and policymakers alike.”

“Fat talk is so damaging because it equates thinness not just with “health,” but also with civic virtue and deservingness to belong to the community of valued Americans. Though we have limited control over our weight, fat-talk calls on every American to be a thin, fit “biocitizen,” and awards cultural status and social citizenship only to those who can achieve the thin, fit body” (Sweeney, 2015).

This is a good reason to let the South secede from the Union.

How thin skinned does Professor Greenhalgh think people are. It would seem all fat people are just a group of so many crying babies abused by intransigent bullies, unfeeling, uncaring doctors, and uninformed policymakers. It is been stated before in The Attack of the Morbidly Obese Diversity Police (Matheson, 2015) that keeping fit and

What is wrong with this picture?

trim is responsible citizenship which translates into containing the costs of health insurance as well as increasing economic productivity contrary to what the fat activists would have you believe. For instance, look at the benighted, junk food seeking, and morbidly obese naves at Walmart. See how they slowly scurry wobbling side-to-side with the telltale music of chafing noises accompanying their every move; or the whine

Falling down the aisle in the never ending quest for pure 100% sugar-filled liquid refreshment!

of fat carts ferrying their obese charges hurrying down the aisles in search of the highest calorie manufactured foodstuffs available. You can safely assume that these people are on Medicaid, food stamps and whatever other aid is available at the trough of Federal handouts. This is not responsible citizenship; it is being slothful and indolent. These people are either sophomoric morons or utter incorrigibles lacking any altruistic desire to promote the greater good of society.

Dr. Greenhalgh sums up her brief interview with the Harvard Gazette thus, “Our country’s high levels of obesity are a serious problem, but the way we’re approaching it is not working to reduce obesity in adults or prevent it in children. Moreover, it is doing real, measurable damage to ourselves, our psyches, our relationships, our families, and especially our young people.”

” What I like about these functions is it’s all you can eat buffet style and don’t worry I have by Maalox tablets right next to me.”

“A concern for social suffering and social justice argues for ending the society-wide war on fat while continuing the search for scientific understanding of obesity’s causes and consequences. As part of that larger project, we need to both reframe the way we talk about obesity or fatness and change how we approach it as a public-health issue. Among other things, we should tell the public the truth about the “bio myths” — partial truths about weight and health that everyone believes but have little scientific credence. Each of us should listen to our own fat-talk and work with others to create fat-talk-free zones where human value is not attached to body weight. Finally, we should launch a nationwide campaign against fat bullying that makes blatant weightism or sizeism just as intolerable as racism, sexism, and homophobia” (Sweeney, 2015).

It takes great effort and stamina to eat a whole cake!

Therefore, how does hard science and research hurt the great overfed, it does not. It only hurts the thin-skinned, weak-willed, indolent, and slothful citizenry that comprises a good percentage of the three-quarters that are overweight or morbidly obese in the United States as an example. The biggest whiners and complainers concerning fat shaming and other abuse are usually the most hedonistic of the lot. How much compassion can one have for individuals subject to self-abuse and self-pity?

The so-called war on obesity should be pursued as vigorously as possible by the concerned citizenry and the general medical, scientific community. These blog posts are filled with stories of scientific breakthroughs and new avenues potential treatment for obesity. Disabusing the great Booboisie of bio myths is Sisyphean at best, a great financial drain on what could be better spent on research, and a distraction to policymakers as well. The obesity epidemic should become the main topic of general conversation when applicable. The fat activism and fat acceptance movements need to be quashed whenever and wherever they rear their ugly gut.

Dear readers, if you have read this far, the Captain would be most heartened if you would rate this and future articles and/or leave a comment at the top of the blog posts whether positive or negative. In this way, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” may better serve you and our entire readership.

Dear Hail-Fellows well met, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is written and edited by your favorite curmudgeons Captain Hank Quinlan and

Flatfoot Willie, Correspondent at Large with fellow Staff Writers

Staff (monkeys in the back room). We offer an ongoing tirade to support or offend anyone of any large dimension, cultural background, religious affiliation, or color of skin. This gazette rails against an eclectic mix of circus ring ne’er do wells, big ring fatty and fatso whiners, congenital idiots, the usual motley assortment of the profoundly dumbfounded, and a favorite of intelligent men everywhere, the

May the Most Venerable H. L. Mencken bless our unworthy but earnest attempts at tongue in cheek jocularity.

All this and more always keeping our major focus on “Why so fat?” Enough said? We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” think so. If you like what you read, and you know whom you are, in this yellow blog, tell your friends. We would be elated with an ever-wider readership. We remain cordially yours, Captain Hank Quinlan and the Monkeys in the back room

“The Fat Bastard Gazette” does not purport to offer any definitive medical or pharmaceutical advice whatsoever in any explicit or implied manner. Always consult a qualified physician in all medical or pharmaceutical matters. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is only the opinion of informed nonprofessionals for the general edification and entertainment of the greater public.

No similarities to any existing names or characters are expressed or implied. We reserve the right to offend or support anybody, anything, or any sacred totem across the globe.

Like this:

Well, so much for separation of church and state fellow travelers. The article, “Coke as a sensible snack? Coca-Cola works with dietitians who suggest cola as snack,” begs the question of another example of blatant collusion, denial, obfuscation. So transparent is this collusion between the food and beverage industry and the health sector that it becomes more laughable than lamentable. Once a particular company, in this case Coca Cola, hires a group of individuals, in this case nutritionists or dietitians, they no longer remain independent agents and become representatives or consultants. Is this not obvious, even to the most casual observer? This reminds one of the tobacco industry using doctors in the thirties and forties as representatives for cigarettes touting their mildness and the healthful benefits of cigarette smoking.

Portion control is another variation on an old theme. The standard size for a bottle of Coca-Cola in 1950 was eight ounces. To suggest that Coca-Cola is as healthful as a pack of almonds, is utterly preposterous. Sugar is sugar is sugar, nothing more than empty calories. In addition, Coca-Cola can make more money on the smaller size than the larger size.

The article then goes on to discuss the meaning of “sponsored content.” The phrase speaks for itself, supported information. In this case since Coca-Cola is sponsoring the article using its “consultants” whether paid or not, and we will put money on the fact they are being paid, the article becomes nothing more than a drawn out commercial filled to the brim with biased information. There is nothing “opaque” about this at all. It is a blatant case of a magician’s sleight of hand. However, lamentable The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics will not come out and state that ethics are violated equating the equivalency of nutrition founded in Coca-Cola and almonds.

The dietician involved with this article denies that sugar causes obesity, what a poor excuse of an educated woman. She is denying scientific, medical fact selling out to the highest bidder. Then there is the case of another delusional female dietician rationalizing the importance of colluding with the food and beverage industry, again involving Coca-Cola. She cannot even remember if Coca-Cola paid her for expert consultation. How naïve do, they think we fellow travelers are.

Dear Hail-Fellows well met, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is written and edited by your favorite curmudgeons Captain Hank Quinlan and

Flatfoot Willie, Correspondent at Large with fellow Staff Writers

Staff (monkeys in the back room). We offer an ongoing tirade to support or offend anyone of any large dimension, cultural background, religious affiliation, or color of skin. This gazette rails against an eclectic mix of circus ring ne’er do wells, big ring fatty and fatso whiners, congenital idiots, the usual motley assortment of the profoundly dumbfounded, and a favorite of intelligent men everywhere, the

May the Most Venerable H. L. Mencken bless our unworthy but earnest attempts at tongue in cheek jocularity .

All this and more always keeping our major focus on “Why so fat?” Enough said? We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” think so. If you like what you read, and you know whom you are, in this yellow blog, tell your friends. We would be elated with an ever-wider readership. We remain cordially yours, Captain Hank Quinlan and the Monkeys in the back room

“The Fat Bastard Gazette” does not purport to offer any definitive medical or pharmaceutical advice whatsoever in any explicit or implied manner. Always consult a qualified physician in all medical or pharmaceutical matters. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is only the opinion of informed nonprofessionals for the general edification and entertainment of the greater public.

No similarities to any existing names or characters are expressed or implied. We reserve the right to offend or support anybody, anything, or any sacred totem across the globe.

This blog cannot get away from circus performers. This issue’s featured circus clown is one ex-fatty Catherine Weingarten. She hails from somewhere in the United Kingdom and she is on a mission to give Facebook its comeuppance. She takes umbrage at Facebook’s fat man emoji. With total gay abandon, this clown relates to us her Mein Kampf (My Struggle) with weight-loss. She goes on to say how demeaning it is to make a light of her and her kind of such a life and death situation. Her struggle is one of skipped meals and time spent in front of the mirror quaking in fear at the amorphous blob of a reflection. While we all applaud her, efforts at slimming down, we look askance at the exuberance she displays wallowing in self-pity.

Sigmund Freud

Our rabble rousing circus clown is shaking the bush, by having started a petition to end Facebook’s emoticon. Moreover, by the look of it, she has 15,000 supporters already, what a number! This clown “knows what it’s like to feel fat” and wants to ram it down everybody else’s throats as well.

Our intrepid young woman and her petition signers would be better served in the psychiatrist’s chair rather than managing a petition for political correctness. Remember evil doers and fat shamers ‘fat is not a feeling’.

CHANTIX is in the news. It seems taking this medication with alcohol may cause blackouts or cause you to hit your neighbor over the head with a bar stool. How long will it take the Booboisie to realize that drinking alcohol with any medication usually has serious side effects? Moreover, how long will it take the Booboisie to learn how to read the package insert or the back of the box or package for that matter? Small type is no excuse; get reading glasses or a magnifying glass. If you are too lazy to read the package insert, go to the Internet’s web sites there is plenty of information to be gleaned. The Captain and staff would really like to know why the patient did not ask the Dr. about the drug and its side effects before leaving the office with the prescription in the first place. The Dr. does not read minds. It is the patients’ responsibility to get all the information in order to make an informed choice. The following is a brief list found on the Internet about what to tell the Dr. before he writes the script.

“Before taking this medicine to make sure you can safely take CHANTIX, tell your doctor if you have any of these other conditions:

a history of depression or mental illness;

kidney disease (or if you are on dialysis);

heart disease, circulation problems; or

if you drink alcohol. (Bold, underline author’s)

FDA pregnancy category C. It is not known whether CHANTIX will harm an unborn baby. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant while using this medicine.”

Well, well, well, is not this a revelation “if you drink alcohol.” Even if the product was only labeled last year to warn potential users of this side effect, it should be obvious even to the most casual observer in this prescription society, that all drugs have side effects some more than others. What is more, to blame the FDA’s tardiness in disseminating this information after the fact of it being put on the label is sheer balderdash. While the FDA is a regulatory and information agency, it cannot be expected to hold everyone’s hand at once and shoulder the responsibility that informed users should be responsible. This too was found on the Internet, taken directly from the Physicians’ desk reference on patient counseling for patients about to take CHANTIX:

PATIENT COUNSELING

Inform about risks and benefits of treatment. Instruct to set a date to quit smoking and initiate treatment 1 week before quit date. Encourage to continue to attempt to quit even w/ early lapses after quit day. Encourage patients who are motivated to quit and who did not succeed in stopping smoking during prior therapy for reasons other than intolerability due to adverse events, or who relapsed after treatment to make another attempt w/ therapy once factors contributing to the failed attempt have been identified and addressed. Provide educational materials and necessary counseling to support attempt at quitting smoking. Instruct to notify physician if persistent nausea or insomnia develops. Advise to d/c and notify physician if agitation, hostility, depressed mood, or changes in behavior/thinking develop. Advise to notify physician prior to treatment of any history of psychiatric illness. Inform that quitting smoking may be associated w/ nicotine withdrawal symptoms or exacerbation of preexisting psychiatric illness. Advise to inform physician of any history of seizures or other factors that can lower seizure threshold; instruct patient to d/c treatment and contact physician immediately if seizure is experienced. Instruct patient to reduce amount of alcohol they consume while on therapy until they know whether therapy affects their tolerance for alcohol. Advise to use caution when driving or operating machinery until patients know how quitting smoking and/or therapy may affect them. Advise to notify physician if symptoms of new or worsening CV events develop and to seek immediate medical attention if signs/symptoms of a MI or stroke are experienced. Instruct to d/c (discontinue) and seek immediate medical care if angioedema (i.e. swellingthatoccursjustbeneaththesurfaceoftheskinormucous membranes.) or a skin reaction occurs. Inform that vivid, unusual, or strange dreams may occur. If patient is pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or breastfeeding, advise about the risks of smoking, the potential risks of therapy, and the benefits of smoking cessation.

Therefore, for this blog’s two cents the FDA is not at fault. The fault lies with either the Dr. or the patient. We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” seriously doubt it is the Dr.

Dear Hail-Fellows well met, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is written and edited by your favorite curmudgeons Captain Hank Quinlan and

Flatfoot Willie, Correspondent at Large with fellow Staff Writers

Staff (monkeys in the back room). We offer an ongoing tirade to support or offend anyone of any large dimension, cultural background, religious affiliation, or color of skin. This gazette rails against an eclectic mix of circus ring ne’er do wells, big ring fatty and fatso whiners, congenital idiots, the usual motley assortment of the profoundly dumbfounded, and a favorite of intelligent men everywhere, the

May the Most Venerable H. L. Mencken bless our unworthy but earnest attempts at tongue in cheek jocularity .

All this and more always keeping our major focus on “Why so fat?” Enough said? We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” think so. If you like what you read, and you know whom you are, in this yellow blog, tell your friends. We would be elated with an ever-wider readership. We remain cordially yours, Captain Hank Quinlan and the Monkeys in the back room

“The Fat Bastard Gazette” does not purport to offer any definitive medical or pharmaceutical advice whatsoever in any explicit or implied manner. Always consult a qualified physician in all medical or pharmaceutical matters. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is only the opinion of informed nonprofessionals for the general edification and entertainment of the greater public.

No similarities to any existing names or characters are expressed or implied. We reserve the right to offend or support anybody, anything, or any sacred totem across the globe.

It is soon going to be the Summer of Love Revisited, the smell of oxytocin, coming to a pharmacy near you, is in the air. Moreover, quite possibly a new baby boom if the effects of oxytocin on men are to be believed. Men could even breastfeed given a sufficient quantity of oxytocin taking some of the work off the women’s shoulders. Not to mention more cuddle time with hubby. With all that empathy going on labor pains can be shared if not physically, mentally. Life gets curiouser and curiouser. As if not all these bons sentiments, (good feelings) are enough, oxytocin taken before meals three times a day can reduce your caloric intake by a whopping 122 calories in addition to 80 calories from fat. Is not this worth all the trouble? In addition, as an extra bonus the fee for taking this oxytocin based, they say, on European costs would be about $275 a month. What a monumental bust this is. Oxytocin is better marketed as a male tranquilizer then weight-loss product. Everything comes full circle. If you are going to use a drug for weight loss, nothing beats the amphetamines for efficacy and price. Nevertheless, remember as soon as you go off the drug your weight will most probably return and then some.

Timothy Leary and Neal Cassady (right)

Oh happy daze, the word is out, acid and shrooms are less harmful than alcohol and other controlled substances. Combine one of these two drugs with oxytocin and you have a good trip. Old Richard Nixon gave LSD and psilocybin a bad rap back in the day. As paranoid as he was, he probably took some bad LSD and cried sour grapes.

Study, Oxytocin May Reduce Appetite, Making it a Safe and Highly Effective Weight Loss Tool

March 8, 2015

The new study tried a manufactured nasal formulation of oxytocin, and discovered the hormone treatment lessened the quantity of calories that men consumed, particularly calories from greasy foods.

The hormone oxytocin is connected to numerous exercises that bond individuals together, including sex, embracing, kissing, holding hands, and conceiving an offspring and breast feeding. In pharmaceutical, its utilized to induce labor, oversee bleeding in moms after conception and urge out breast milk in nursing women, Lawson said.

The analysts launched their study into oxytocin’s potential effects for consuming because research in animals has proposed that the hormone helps the body regulate body intake, she said. “Not much is known about oxytocin effects on appetite and food consumption in humans,” Lawson added.

In the new study, the scientists randomly appointed 25 men (12 of whom were overweight or obese) to either take synthetic oxytocin by means of nasal spread or an inactive placebo. The men did not know which spray they were given. The average age of the participants was 27, as per the study.

After taking either the hormone or placebo, the men requested breakfast from a menu. They were given twofold segments of whatever they requested. Toward the end of the meal, the specialists measured the amount of food consumed.

The men later returned and did the examination once more, yet this time they got the placebo in the event that they’d taken oxytocin the past time, or the reverse.

The individuals who took the oxytocin consumed 122 less calories, on average, the study found.They additionally ate less fatty food — around 9 less fat grams on average. That means around 80 less calories from fatty food.

Lawson said it’s not clear from this study how oxytocin influences the appetite.

Furthermore, there are a few admonitions to the study. The specialists didn’t think about if the men who consumed less were hungrier later, and ladies were excluded, so there’s no real way to know how they may be influenced.

While the men who took oxytocin didn’t have more side effects than the other men, “potential side effects with intranasal oxytocin include uterine contractions in pregnant women and, rarely, nausea, headache or allergic dermatitis,” Lawson said.

The nasal spray is affirmed for utilization in Europe, yet not in the United States. If utilized preceding meals three times each day, the expense of the medication — based on European costs — would be about $275 a month, Lawson said.

The study is little, and still ahead of schedule in the examination procedure, noted Paul Zak, founding director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University in California.

Still, he sees potential. “From an evolutionary perspective, oxytocin is released during positive social interactions — when we are around others who care about us. This is just when food sharing is likely to occur. If we want to lose weight, having others around us who care about us can help reduce appetite,” he suggested.

Latest studies have revealed that use of psychedelic drugs does not increase the risk of mental health problems. The study involved analysis of data from 135,000 randomly selected participants – including 19,000 people who had used drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms.

The study showed that use of these Psychedelic drugs does not reveal any increased risk of developing mental health ailments later on in life.

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim had also conducted a study earlier and had conducted population study investigating associations between mental health and psychedelic use. The study involved analysis of data in between 2001 to 2004.

Author and clinical psychologist Pal-orjan Johansen says, “Over 30 million US adults have tried psychedelics and there just is not much evidence of health problems.”

Co-author and neuroscientist Teri Krebs feels, “Drug experts consistently rank LSD and psilocybin mushrooms as much less harmful to the individual user and to society compared to alcohol and other controlled substances.”

The study envisaged the study of data obtained from the US National Health Survey (2008-2011) consisting of 135,095 randomly selected adults from the US, including 19,299 users of psychedelic drugs.

The researchers did not find any link between the use of psychedelic drugs like LSD and magic mushrooms and symptoms of mental illness like psychological distress, depression, anxiety or suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts.

However Johansen was quick to acknowledge the pitfalls of such studies and therefore considering the design and the mode of the study the researchers cannot rule out the negative effects of such drugs on certain individuals.

Johansen said, the researchers cannot “exclude the possibility that use of psychedelics might have a negative effect on mental health for some individuals or groups, perhaps counterbalanced at a population level by a positive effect on mental health in others.”

The details of the study are published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Who Were the Merry Pranksters?

Ken Kesey, leader of the Merry Pranksters, was arrested for marijuana possession.

The original Merry Pranksters patterned their lifestyles on the experiences in Jack Kerouac’s novel On The Road

Poets and writers such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg defied mainstream society by publishing jazz-influenced works, often laced with drug references and obscene language. During the late 1950s, author Ken Kesey and several of his friends living in a Bohemian section of Stanford, California formed a loose alliance called the Merry Pranksters. The original Merry Pranksters patterned their lifestyles after the New York-based beatnik culture, especially the On the Road experiences of Jack Kerouac.

Around 1960, Ken Kesey volunteered for a series of medical experiments involving various psychedelic drugs, such as mescaline, peyote, morning glory seeds and most significantly, LSD. Kesey smuggled many of these substances back to the other Merry Pranksters, who later discovered legal methods for importing peyote from Mexico. Meanwhile, Kesey himself became a successful novelist with the publication of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Sometimes a Great Notion. Fueled by their mind-expanding drug experiences, the Merry Pranksters began to form grandiose ideas about turning on the rest of the country’s youth to LSD and other psychedelic drugs.

In 1964, Ken Kesey wanted to visit the New York City beatnik scene at the same time his novelSometimes a Great Notion would be published. To accomplish this cross-country trip, the Merry Pranksters bought a retired school bus and completely refurbished it. Inspired by the pop art of Andy Warhol and the comic book style of Roy Lichtenstein, the Merry Pranksters created numerous Day-Glo murals on both the interior and exterior walls. The bus also contained a number of film cameras and microphones, which the Merry Pranksters used to record nearly every second of their trip. Ken Kesey named the bus Further, perhaps referring to the mind-expanding effects of LSD.

The bus was driven primarily by Neal Cassady, a legendary counterculture figure made famous through Jack Kerouac’s writings. The plan was to drive around the United States with a large supply of LSD and other drugs. Visitors would be encouraged to ingest drug-laced juices and join the Merry Pranksters in street theater pranks or other improvised events. Since LSD was considered legal until 1966, law enforcement officers could not seize the bus or arrest its occupants for drug possession. This cross-country trip culminated in a fateful meeting with Jack Kerouac and several other Beat Generation leaders. Kerouac did not embrace the new counterculture generation, since many of their experiences were fueled by harder drugs than marijuana or alcohol.

After returning to California, the Merry Pranksters sponsored a series of parties designed to introduce LSD and other hallucinogens to the burgeoning hippie movement. These events were informally called Acid Tests, with signs asking “Can YOU pass the test?” The venues were painted in Day-Glo colors and featured the psychedelic artwork often associated with the Haight-Asbury hippie culture. Local bands were often hired to provide background music for the participants, with psychedelia-inspired names such as the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and the Doors.

After LSD became illegal in 1966, the Merry Pranksters suffered a tremendous blow. Fearing a lengthy prison sentence for drug possession charges, Ken Kesey faked a suicide attempt and fled to Mexico. The other Merry Pranksters soon went their separate ways as well. In 1968, Neal Cassady was found dead near some railroad tracks in Mexico.

Ken Kesey was eventually arrested for a relatively minor marijuana possession and given a six month sentence. The bus called Further was moved to Kesey’s home state of Oregon for safekeeping. Several Merry Pranksters have died since the 1960s, but Kesey continued to organize a series of reunions until his death from liver cancer surgery complications in 2001.

Dear Hail-Fellows well met, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is written and edited by your favorite curmudgeons Captain Hank Quinlan and

Flatfoot Willie, Correspondent at Large with fellow Staff Writers

Staff (monkeys in the back room). We offer an ongoing tirade to support or offend anyone of any large dimension, cultural background, religious affiliation, or color of skin. This gazette rails against an eclectic mix of circus ring ne’er do wells, big ring fatty and fatso whiners, congenital idiots, the usual motley assortment of the profoundly dumbfounded, and a favorite of intelligent men everywhere, the

May the Most Venerable H. L. Mencken bless our unworthy but earnest attempts at tongue in cheek jocularity .

All this and more always keeping our major focus on “Why so fat?” Enough said? We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” think so. If you like what you read, and you know whom you are, in this yellow blog, tell your friends. We would be elated with an ever-wider readership. We remain cordially yours, Captain Hank Quinlan and the Monkeys in the back room

“The Fat Bastard Gazette” does not purport to offer any definitive medical or pharmaceutical advice whatsoever in any explicit or implied manner. Always consult a qualified physician in all medical or pharmaceutical matters. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is only the opinion of informed nonprofessionals for the general edification and entertainment of the greater public.

No similarities to any existing names or characters are expressed or implied. We reserve the right to offend or support anybody, anything, or any sacred totem across the globe.

Like this:

Horribile dictu (horrible to relate), men are more narcissistic than women are. How long has this fact been hidden under the bushel basket. Men are masters of the race therefore; women should be subservient to men. Men may bend the rules of decorum in any manner and at any time they see fit to their purpose. Men must remain dominant in omnibusrebus (in all affairs). The first article below reads like an article out of the 1950s. What is new in women’s struggle with men’s entitlement? Just read the bible as an example of women made or told to be subservient to men. It took this long for the wonks in ivory towers to come to any definitive consensus! The Captain and staff are flummoxed why this article ever made it to press.

The second article deals with the Mediterranean diet study and of course, the Mediterranean diet wins. “Among the study’s participants, adherence to the Mediterranean diet was more protective than physical activity.” However, take this with the proverbial grain of salt, flabby muscles especially the heart muscle does the body no good either. Exercise must still be included with diets. It is obvious a healthful diet will promote good cardiovascular health related to cleaner arterial walls especially around the smaller coronary arteries. However, everything we eat has calories and these calories must be burned through activity. This cannot be stressed and enough.

Men are more narcissistic because ‘women often receive harsh criticism for being aggressive or authoritative’, study shows

The 31-year University at Buffalo study looked at three aspects of narcissism and analyzed data from more than 475,000 people

Men tend to be more narcissistic than women and as a result are more likely to exploit others, a study said Thursday after analyzing three decades of data from more than 475,000 people.

The findings were consistent across multiple age groups and generations, said the University at Buffalo School of Management, pointing out that narcissism has good and bad points.

The researchers examined more than 355 journal articles, dissertations, manuscripts and technical manuals, and studied gender differences in the three aspects of narcissism: leadership/authority, grandiose/exhibitionism and entitlement.

University at Buffalo researchers found looked at three aspects of narcissism: leadership/authority, grandiose/exhibitionism and entitlement. The widest gap between genders was in entitlement

Over the course of their 31-year study they found the widest gap in entitlement, suggesting that men are more likely than women to exploit others and feel entitled to certain privileges.

‘Narcissism is associated with various interpersonal dysfunctions, including an inability to maintain healthy long-term relationships, unethical behavior and aggression,’ said lead author Emily Grijalva, assistant professor of organization and human resources in the UB School of Management.

‘At the same time, narcissism is shown to boost self-esteem, emotional stability and the tendency to emerge as a leader,’ she added.

The study looked at unattractive qualities, including manipulative, self-absorption, aggression and arrogance, according to the Washington Post.

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It also looked at how people responded to statements including ‘I know that I am good because everyone keeps telling me so’.

The study did note, however, that neither gender has gotten more narcissistic over time.

Narcissism can emerge out of gender stereotypes and expectations, according to a University at Buffalo news release.

‘Individuals tend to observe and learn gender roles from a young age, and may face backlash for deviating from society’s expectations,’ Grijalva says. ‘In particular, women often receive harsh criticism for being aggressive or authoritative, which creates pressure for women, more so than for men, to suppress displays of narcissistic behavior.’

Diet Can Cut Heart Risk by Almost Half

Thu, 03/05/2015 – 7:00am

American College of Cardiology

Greek salad. Image: Jpatokal, Wikimedia

Adults who closely followed the Mediterranean diet were 47 percent less likely to develop heart disease over a 10-year period compared to similar adults who did not closely follow the diet, according to a study to be presented at the American College of Cardiology‘s 64th Annual Scientific Session in San Diego.Among the study’s participants, adherence to the Mediterranean diet was more protective than physical activity. The study, conducted in Greece, bolsters evidence from earlier studies pointing to the diet’s health benefits and is the first to track 10-year heart disease risk in a general population. Most previous studies have focused on middle-aged people.

“Our study shows that the Mediterranean diet is a beneficial intervention for all types of people — in both genders, in all age groups, and in both healthy people and those with health conditions,” said Ekavi Georgousopoulou, a Ph.D. candidate at Harokopio Univ. in Athens, Greece, who conducted the study along with Demosthenes Panagiotakos, professor at Harokopio Univ. “It also reveals that the Mediterranean diet has direct benefits for heart health, in addition to its indirect benefits in managing diabetes, hypertension and inflammation.”

The study is based on data from a representative sample of more than 2,500 Greek adults, ages 18 to 89, who provided researchers with their health information each year from 2001 to 2012. Participants also completed in-depth surveys about their medical records, lifestyle and dietary habits at the start of the study, after five years and after 10 years.

Overall, nearly 20 percent of the men and 12 percent of the women who participated in the study developed or died from heart disease, a suite of conditions that includes stroke, coronary heart disease caused by the buildup of plaque in the heart’s arteries, acute coronary syndromes such as heart attack, and other diseases. Other studies have shown Greeks and Americans have similar rates of heart disease and its risk factors.

The researchers scored participants’ diets on a scale from one to 55 based on their self-reported frequency and level of intake for 11 food groups. Those who scored in the top-third in terms of adherence to the Mediterranean diet, indicating they closely followed the diet, were 47 percent less likely to develop heart disease over the 10-year follow-up period as compared to participants who scored in the bottom-third, indicating they did not closely follow the diet. Each one-point increase in the dietary score was associated with a 3 percent drop in heart disease risk.

This difference was independent of other heart disease risk factors including age, gender, family history, education level, body mass index, smoking habits, hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol, all of which the researchers adjusted for in their analysis.

The analysis also confirmed results of previous studies indicating that male gender, older age, diabetes and high C-reactive protein levels, a measure of inflammation, are associated with an increased risk for heart disease.

While there is no set Mediterranean diet, it commonly emphasizes fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, fish, olive oil and even a glass of red wine. Earlier research has shown that following the traditional Mediterranean diet is linked to weight loss, reduced risk of diabetes, lower blood pressure and lower blood cholesterol levels, in addition to reduced risk of heart disease.

“Because the Mediterranean diet is based on food groups that are quite common or easy to find, people around the world could easily adopt this dietary pattern and help protect themselves against heart disease with very little cost,” Georgousopoulou said.

Among study participants, women tended to follow the Mediterranean diet more closely than did men. Despite the fact that Greece is the cradle of the Mediterranean diet, urbanization has led many Greeks to adopt a more Western diet over the past four decades, he said.

The study was limited to participants living in and around Athens, Greece, so the sample does not necessarily reflect the health conditions or dietary patterns of people in more rural areas or the rest of the world. However, previous studies have also linked the Mediterranean diet with reduced cardiovascular risks, including the Nurses’ Health Study, which included nearly 75,000 American nurses who were tracked over a 30-year period. Additional studies in other adult populations would further advance understanding of the diet’s influence on heart disease risk.

The study, “Adherence to Mediterranean is the Most Important Protector Against the Development of Fatal and Non-Fatal Cardiovascular Event: 10-Year Follow-up (2002-12) Of the Attica Study,” will be presented on March 15.

Dear Hail-Fellows well met, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is written and edited by your favorite curmudgeons Captain Hank Quinlan and

Flatfoot Willie, Correspondent at Large with fellow Staff Writers

Staff (monkeys in the back room). We offer an ongoing tirade to support or offend anyone of any large dimension, cultural background, religious affiliation, or color of skin. This gazette rails against an eclectic mix of circus ring ne’er do wells, big ring fatty and fatso whiners, congenital idiots, the usual motley assortment of the profoundly dumbfounded, and a favorite of intelligent men everywhere, the

May the Most Venerable H. L. Mencken bless our unworthy but earnest attempts at tongue in cheek jocularity .

All this and more always keeping our major focus on “Why so fat?” Enough said? We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” think so. If you like what you read, and you know whom you are, in this yellow blog, tell your friends. We would be elated with an ever-wider readership. We remain cordially yours, Captain Hank Quinlan and the Monkeys in the back room

“The Fat Bastard Gazette” does not purport to offer any definitive medical or pharmaceutical advice whatsoever in any explicit or implied manner. Always consult a qualified physician in all medical or pharmaceutical matters. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is only the opinion of informed nonprofessionals for the general edification and entertainment of the greater public.

No similarities to any existing names or characters are expressed or implied. We reserve the right to offend or support anybody, anything, or any sacred totem across the globe.

Like this:

Big foods outraged over declining profits, oh boo-hoo. There are will always be a small coterie of fatties and fatsos who will remain loyal to them. We at the “Fat Bastard Gazette” are not against big foods per say. We do take umbrage with mistreatment of animals in processing on mega farms and the not so benign qualities of food additives used in their products. However, have you tasted any of the non-adulterated ready to eat health food organic products now on the market? They taste terrible. The only two passable products that have reasonably good flavor at least to the staff members of “The Fat Bastard Gazette” are Morningstar and Loma Linda products. Morningstar and Loma Linda owned by Kellogg are accused of using GMO soy products. We say so what! If you are going to feed, the masses comrades you need to keep production up and that means pest resistance. At these points in time we cannot have it both ways can we. Morningstar actually has a good flavor and if you use a little imagination tastes very similar to meat and poultry products. Loma Linda however is an acquired taste and was one of the first meat substitute products offered to the modern mass market. Loma Linda actually started by the Seventh Day Adventists, a sect promoting a healthful eating vegetarian lifestyle.

The second article really packs a punch, it deals with mega processing plants one in particular, Hormel. Although Hormel is singled out in this article, we are certainly sure that all the other processing plants can be accused of the same lack of sanitation. Pilot program or not, these appalling procedures and conditions probably exist on an ordinary day-to-day basis in all major processing plants around the world.

The Captain is and on again off again vegetarian. After exploring this article, the Captain will try to remain a vegetarian because of the animal mistreatment and unsanitary processing conditions in the plants of these mega corporations. Moreover, these large corporations have the temerity to wonder why their profits are dwindling!

Is the Junk-Food Era Drawing to a Close?

Not long ago, the great processed-food companies like Kraft and Kellogg’s towered over the US food landscape like the high hat that adorned the head of Chef Boyardee, the iconic canned-spaghetti magnate whose empire is now owned by ConAgra.

There’s a “mounting distrust of so-called Big Food, the large food companies and legacy brands on which millions of consumers have relied on for so long,” said Campbell Soup’s CEO.

What gives? Part of the problem is currency fluctuations. Having conquered the US market, Big Food for years has looked overseas for growth. Recently, a strong US dollar has cut into foreign profits, because a pricier dollar makes overseas sales worth less when they’re converted to the US currency, as the Wall Street Journal recently reported.

Currencies rise and fall, but the real specter haunting the industry may be something less ephemeral than the dollar’s gyrations. Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison—whose company makes V8 juice and Pepperidge Farm baked goods along with soup—recently publicly declared that there’s a “mounting distrust of so-called Big Food, the large food companies and legacy brands on which millions of consumers have relied…for so long,” reportsFortune‘s Phil Wahba, in an account from a conference at which Morrison spoke. Morrison also cited the “increasingly complex public dialog when it comes to food” as a drag on Campbell Soup’s and its competitors’ sales, Wahba reports.

In other words, Big Food successfully sold a vision of cooking as a necessary inconvenience, to be dispatched with as painlessly as possible—open a soup can for dinner, unleash a squirt of artificial cream onto a boxed cake for dessert—that’s starting to lose its charm.

One reason is surely health. Over the past decade, there has been a bounty of research on the ill effects of highly processed food. And when Yale medical researchers David Katz and Samuel Meller surveyed the scientific dietary literature for a paper in 2013, they found that a “diet of minimally processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants, is decisively associated with health promotion and disease prevention.”

Interestingly, Katz and Meller found does okay. The authors conclude the “aggregation of that as long as you stick to the “minimally processed” bit, it doesn’t much matter which diet you follow: low-fat, vegetarian, and Mediterranean have all shown good results. Even the meat-centered “paleo” approach evidence” supports meat eating, as long as the “animal foods are themselves the products, directly or ultimately, of pure plant foods—the composition of animal flesh and milk is as much influenced by diet as we are.” That’s likely because cows fed on grass deliver meat and milk with a healthier fat profile than their industrially raised peers.

Meanwhile, as Big Food flounders, sales of fresh food grown by nearby farmers continues to grow at a pace that would make a Big Food exec salivate. A recent US Department of Agriculture report found that there are now 8,268 farmers markets nationwide—a jump of 180 percent since 2006. Then there are regional food hubs, which the USDA describes as “enterprises that aggregate locally sourced food to meet wholesale, retail, institutional, and even individual demand”—the kind of operations that can move fresh food from local farms to, say, grocery stores, so you don’t have to show up at the exact right time at the farmers market to get your local collard greens. Food hubs, the USDA reports, have jumped in number by 280 percent since 2007.

Finally, there are schools—a site long dominated by Big Food, where little consumers learn eating habits before they emerge into the world as income-earning adults. According to the USDA, school districts with farm-to-school programs grew by more than 400 percent between 2007 and 2012.

For decades, “American cuisine” was an oxymoron, the punch line to a sad joke. Billions of dollars in profits have been made betting on the US appetite for processed junk. Those days may be drawing to an end.

USDA Whistleblowers Tell All–and You May Never Eat Bacon Again

In 2004, Elsa Murano stepped down from her post as chief of the US Department of Agriculture division that oversees food safety at the nation’s slaughterhouses. Two years later, she joined the board of directors of pork giant Hormel, a company that runs some of the nation’s largest slaughterhouses. Murano received $238,000 in compensation for her service on Hormel’s board in 2014 alone.

This is a classic example of the “revolving door” that separates US government regulators from the corporations they regulate. It’s hardly the most shocking thing I gleaned from the whistleblower-protection group Government Accountability Project’s recent exposé of conditions at three hog slaughter facilities associated with Hormel. But it’s interesting to think about in light of GAP’s allegations, found in sworn affidavits filed by four USDA inspectors stationed in Hormel-owned plants. Three of the inspectors chose to remain anonymous; the fourth, Joe Ferguson, gave his name.

Their comments focus on three Hormel-associated plants, which are among just five hog facilities enrolled in a pilot inspection program run by the USDA. In the regular oversight system, USDA-employed inspectors are stationed along the kill line, charged with ensuring that conditions are as sanitary as possible and that no tainted meat ends up being packed for consumption. In the pilot program, known as HIMP (short for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points-based Inspection Models Project), company employees take over inspection duties, relegating USDA inspectors to an oversight role on the sidelines.

“USDA inspectors are encouraged not to stop the line for fecal contamination.”

What’s more, the HIMP plants get to speed up the kill line—from the current rate of 1,100 hogs per hour to 1,300 hogs per hour, a jump of nearly 20 percent. The five plants rolled out the new inspection system around 2002, USDA spokesperson Aaron Lavallee said. That’s when Murano, now on the Hormel board of directors, ran the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. If the privatization-plus-speedup formula sounds familiar, it’s because the USDA ran a similar experimental program for chicken slaughter for years. After much pushback by workplace and food safety advocates and media attention (including from me), the USDA decided not to let poultry companies speed up the kill line when it opened the new system to all chicken slaughterhouses last year (though it did green-light turkey facilities to speed up the line from 51 to 55 birds per minute).

All four affidavits offer blistering critiques of the hog version of the pilot program. Three themes run through them: (1) company inspectors are poorly trained and prepared for the task of overseeing a fast-moving kill line involving large carcasses; (2) company-employed and USDA inspectors alike face pressure from the company not to perform their jobs rigorously; and (3) lots of unappetizing stuff is getting through as the result of (1) and (2).

The testimony of Inspector 3, affidavit here, is full of choice nuggets, though not of the sort you want to sample before lunch. Here are a few:

“Not only are plant supervisors not trained, the employees taking over USDA’s inspection duties have no idea what they are doing. Most of them come into the plant with no knowledge of pathology or the industry in general.”

“Food safety has gone down the drain under HIMP. Even though fecal contamination has increased under the program (though the company does a good job of hiding it), USDA inspectors are encouraged not to stop the line for fecal contamination.”

“HIMP was initially designed for the kill of young, healthy animals. This hasn’t always been the case. A lot of the animals the plant has killed were too old. Some also had different diseases. They didn’t even slow down the line for the diseased carcasses.”

“The company threatens plant employees with terminations if they see them condemning too many carcasses or carcass parts.”

For its part, Hormel insists that “food safety is our top priority and we have been a leader in the production of safe, quality food for more than 100 years,” as Rick Williamson, Hormel’s manager of external communications, wrote in an email. “In addition to the USDA inspectors at the facility, there are Hormel Foods employees trained to the standards of the USDA conducting the additional inspections,” he continued. “We’ve found this allows the USDA inspectors better perspective and more flexibility to monitor activity and identify any issues.” As for food safety concerns, he added that “our facilities consistently meet or perform better than published USDA microbiological performance standards.” But he didn’t respond to my request for data to back that claim up, or for commentary on charges of poor training and intimidation of inspectors. But he did add a plug for the privatized inspection and faster kill lines enjoyed by three Hormel-associated plants: “The HIMP program places more accountability on the company, and we welcome that responsibility.”

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the agency that runs the inspection program, is standing behind HIMP too. USDA spokesperson Aaron Lavallee pointed to a November 2014 FSIS report that, he said, “shows that the food safety outcomes at the pilot facilities are on par with those operating under other inspection systems.” The report concluded that there’s “no reason to discontinue HIMP in market hog establishments.”

Meanwhile, the pilot inspection program will continue running as is, confined to five slaughterhouse and not expanding to include others, Lavallee said. Before expanding, he added, “the agency would first need to conduct a risk assessment to determine whether doing so would have a significant positive public health impact, and then engage in the rulemaking process, which can be lengthy.”

However, the USDA’s and Hormel’s rosy assessment of HIMP presents a stark contrast to a scathing 2013 report from yet another USDA agency, the Office of the Inspector General, which found HIMP plants—which it did not name—made up three of the top 10 US hog plants earning the most food safety and animal welfare citations in the period of fiscal years 2008 to 2011. Moreover, by far the most-cited slaughterhouse in the United States over that period was in the program—it drew “nearly 50 percent more [citations] than the plant with the next highest number.” The OIG also concluded that that the Food Safety and Inspection Service “did not provide adequate oversight” of HIMP over its first 15 years, and as a result, “HIMP plants may have a higher potential for food safety risks.”

Not all company-employed inspectors “understand and have the ability to execute the proper procedures needed to make sure pathogens don’t spread to other carcasses” when “fecal matter or ingesta spills out of one of the animal’s organs.”

Ted Genoways, who in 2012 wrote a harrowingaccount in Mother Jones of what accelerated line speeds have meant for workers slaughterhouse workers, rejects Hormel’s sunny assessment. Genoways’ reporting, later expanded into the superb 2014 book The Chain, focused on the Quality Pork Processors plant in Austin, Minnesota, which supplies its meat solely to Hormel and is one of the three Hormel-associated plants among the five in HIMP. He recently told Food Safety News, “Yes, I think the line speeds [at the HIMP plants] are too fast. When you see the workers on the line say the speeds are too fast, the inspectors say the lines are too fast, the suppliers at the farm level say the lines are too fast, there’s such a unanimity of opinion that I don’t think you can come to any other conclusion.”

Well, not quite unanimous. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, of course, continues to defend the pilot program. But then there’s its cozy ties to industry—in addition to Murano’s leap to Hormel, FSIS’s then-chief of staff flew the coop to the National Turkey Federation in 2011, and another high official bolted to work for meat processor OSI Group just this month. Given the tasty meat industry opportunities that evidently await the USDA’s food safety administrators, I take FSIS’s defense of the HIMP program in the face of these sworn statements with about as much salt as you might find in a slice of Hormel’s signature product, Spam.

TOM PHILPOTT

Food and Ag Correspondent

Tom Philpott is the cofounder of Maverick Farms, a center for sustainable food education in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. He was formerly a columnist and editor for the online environmental site Grist and his work on food politics has appeared in Newsweek, Gastronomica, and the Guardian.

Dear Hail-Fellows well met, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is written and edited by your favorite curmudgeons Captain Hank Quinlan and

Flatfoot Willie, Correspondent at Large with fellow Staff Writers

Staff (monkeys in the back room). We offer an ongoing tirade to support or offend anyone of any large dimension, cultural background, religious affiliation, or color of skin. This gazette rails against an eclectic mix of circus ring ne’er do wells, big ring fatty and fatso whiners, congenital idiots, the usual motley assortment of the profoundly dumbfounded, and a favorite of intelligent men everywhere, the

May the Most Venerable H. L. Mencken bless our unworthy but earnest attempts at tongue in cheek jocularity .

All this and more always keeping our major focus on “Why so fat?” Enough said? We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” think so. If you like what you read, and you know whom you are, in this yellow blog, tell your friends. We would be elated with an ever-wider readership. We remain cordially yours, Captain Hank Quinlan and the Monkeys in the back room

“The Fat Bastard Gazette” does not purport to offer any definitive medical or pharmaceutical advice whatsoever in any explicit or implied manner. Always consult a qualified physician in all medical or pharmaceutical matters. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is only the opinion of informed nonprofessionals for the general edification and entertainment of the greater public.

All rights reserved. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is a copyright of “The Captain Hank Quinlan Group, International.” No similarities to any existing names or characters are expressed or implied. We reserve the right to offend or support anybody, anything, or any sacred totem across the globe.

Like this:

Comrades and fellow travelers, we have two articles that may be of middling interest to fatties and fatsos everywhere. First, the Captain would like to have a rant. Why do the paste-up and layout people or writer for that matter always depict a thinly attractive woman eating a greasy fat laden piece of pizza?

Fat man eating pizza sans checkered oilcloth and shirt.The flies must be just out of the shot.

Instead of a more accurate depiction of a fat man with a greasy shirt pulled up over his naval, flies on the red and white checkered oilcloth, sweaty palms embracing an extra-large piece of pizza and sugar soda, slobbering over the same.

Fries jammed in the hamburger. Just plain gross

Truth in advertising my friends, truth in advertising.

So greasy pizza, greasy fries, and chocolates are addictive, imagine that. It took Ph.D.s at a leading university to discover this fact. They wired up a few brain trusts and discovered the unholy and unnatural eating of pizza, fries, and chocolate activates the same brain center as a toot of coke off the old mirror. Is this then another excuse for fatties and fatsos to justify their bad habits? The Captain thinks not. Since eating the wrong foods and eating to excess lead to a myriad of long-term health risks, these habits must change for the better. Addictions or bad habits can change with a positive outlook, healthful diet, and sheer, unmitigated willpower. Wonder pills at least at this time are not going to do it for you, as is a negative self-defeating attitude. Remember, “Nothing exceeds like excess.” (Scarface).

Nibbling or gorging you be the judge. Apparently, the jury is still out on this one. The whole point of this story is moderation in all things. One cannot eat high-calorie food items all day and not suffer the consequences of gaining weight nor can one gorge to excess and not expect to gain weight. Exercising is the only safe way to consume calories at an accelerated rate, calories in calories out.

As to the effects of excess food on organ parts, the pancreas is largely involved. It serves double duty as an endocrine and exocrine gland. It manufactures insulin to facilitate sugar molecules entering our cells for energy and supplies amylase and lipase to help digest food and fats. It is easy to infer then the mighty little pancreas does a lot of work. It is continually taxed by being overweight or eating too much sugar. When eating too much sugar the beta cells, which produce insulin, cannot keep up. The excess sugar remains in the bloodstream unused and unable to supply energy to the cells. These rather large molecules are carried through the bloodstream wreaking havoc with the kidneys and small capillaries. The rest of the food turns into globular fat cells.

As the second article below implies, whether you nibble or gorge everything in moderation.

Scientists confirm French fries, chocolate and pizza are addictive

Submitted by Amy McClellan on Thu, 02/26/2015 – 13:49

If you can’t stop gorging on foods like chocolate, French fries, and pizza, it’s not your mistake. It has been confirmed by scientists that one can actually become addictive to such food items.

According to scientists, these foods activate the same centers in the brain, which are activated by drugs such as cocaine. According to a new study, the brains of people who become addictive to these appetizing food items could also undergo some changes.

A study, which has been conducted by scientists at University of Michigan, has analyzed ‘food addiction’ for the first time. It has also been revealed by earlier studies conducted on animals, foods that are highly processed or consist of added fat or refined carbohydrates such as white flour and sugar, could lead to addiction in eating behavior.

Ashley Gearhardt, U-M assistant professor of psychology, said it was not clear earlier whether foods like chocolate and pizza can activate addiction-like eating behavior in humans. People having symptoms of food addiction were found to have more problems with highly processed foods since some of them could be especially sensitive to the gratification they get from these foods.

“If properties of some foods are associated with addictive eating for some people, this may impact nutrition guidelines, as well as public policy initiatives such as marketing these foods to children”, said Erica Schulte, a U-M psychology doctoral student, and the study’s lead author. As per researchers, the study could help understand the obesity treatment better.

Nicole Avena, assistant professor of pharmacology and systems therapeutics at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and a co-author of the study said that the study tells about addiction to specific foods and will lead to more information regarding this addictive response.

No Health Benefit to Eating Small Meals

VICTORIA, BC – HEALTH – A few years ago I dug into and ended up debunking a large number of diet and food myths. Alongside the main course of fat, sugar, salt, and so on, I looked into a few appetizers. One of these was the idea that healthy eating includes consuming whatever you consume as small frequent meals: nibbling.

In support of this kind of eating we are told by qualified people such as nutritionists (1) and others such as fitness trainers (2) that infrequent eating or binging puts the body into starvation mode, makes it impossible to lose weight, stresses the glandular organs, and produces dangerous blood sugar highs and lows.

The alleged health benefits of eating just a little bit of food many times through the day include an easier time losing weight, avoiding high and low nutrient levels including blood sugar, and preventing “overeating,” which didn’t seem otherwise to be defined anywhere that I could find.

When I went searching for evidence to support the benefits of eating up to six times a day (or more) I found eight articles, but only one, published in 1989 in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (3) directly examined the issue. Three meals a day was termed “gorging”, and the intervention was picking at 17 snacks per day. The endpoints were all surrogate (blood test results and blood pressure readings as opposed to any kind of real health event), showing the “metabolic advantages” of the nibbling pattern of eating (the differences shown were small).

I don’t know many people who would consider three meals a day “gorging.” The conclusions of the study are speculative.

A review article in 2008 gathered numerous studies together, one of which associated small frequent meals with greater success at weight loss. One study reviewed suggested that frequency of meals was mostly associated with subjects’ acculturation (4). Five other trials found no association of increased meal frequency with successfully losing weight. The one prospective trial in which total energy was restricted did not produce weight loss benefit, and a review in 1997 concluded that nibbling does not have energy metabolic advantages in terms of energy utilization over gorging.

Weight loss is, of course, a surrogate endpoint not associated with any real health outcome like not getting sick or delaying death. My literature review indicated that the majority of studies that have been done on the topic suggest eating small frequent meals make no health difference, and the one better-quality trial was in that majority.

Once we get a grip on how little science there is to support any benefit from nibbling I think we can be forgiven for wondering whether the real message is kind of cultural. I get the feeling a lot of people believe that nibbling is just nicer behaviour than the opposite. Less ugly and aggressive than stuffing your face or binging like a wild animal or out-of-control addict.

I should disclose that I starve and binge. I find eating lots of delicious food, I think for sound evolutionary reasons, fabulously affirming. It happens I don’t want to be overweight, although my reason is strictly aesthetic, so I have to limit the amount of food I take in each day. I’m determined to experience the pleasure of eating all I want and not get fat.

The only dietary pattern that meets both of my needs is to eat lots of satisfying food infrequently, so that’s what I do. Of course, no good evidence supports doing anything else in order to obtain a health outcome.

I’ve had to conclude that eating small frequent meals, like a lot of other ideology about what we should and shouldn’t be eating, appeals to us in an ideologically representative or cultural way. Personally, I think cultural ideas about food are important. I love the fact that the presentation, anticipation, sensual enjoyment, and satisfaction associated with eating represents a world of meaning in human relationships.

What a shame that we usually focus only on simple health outcomes (which, in general, we can’t actually get from changing our diet) and sometimes miss the real significance of what’s for dinner.

John Sloan

John Sloan is a family physician whose practice is confined to home care of frail elderly people, and avoiding institutional care of these patients. He has published numerous articles and several books on healthcare. His most recent ebook, Forbidden Food: How Science Says you can Eat what you Like and Like what you Eat(Kindle)is available on Amazon.com. He lives with his family in Vancouver.

Dear Hail-Fellows well met, “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is written and edited by your favorite curmudgeons Captain Hank Quinlan and

Flatfoot Willie, Correspondent at Large with fellow Staff Writers

Staff (monkeys in the back room). We offer an ongoing tirade to support or offend anyone of any large dimension, cultural background, religious affiliation, or color of skin. This gazette rails against an eclectic mix of circus ring ne’er do wells, big ring fatty and fatso whiners, congenital idiots, the usual motley assortment of the profoundly dumbfounded, and a favorite of intelligent men everywhere, the

May the Most Venerable H. L. Mencken bless our unworthy but earnest attempts at tongue in cheek jocularity .

All this and more always keeping our major focus on “Why so fat?” Enough said? We at “The Fat Bastard Gazette” think so. If you like what you read, and you know whom you are, in this yellow blog, tell your friends. We would be elated with an ever-wider readership. We remain cordially yours, Captain Hank Quinlan and the Monkeys in the back room

“The Fat Bastard Gazette” does not purport to offer any definitive medical or pharmaceutical advice whatsoever in any explicit or implied manner. Always consult a qualified physician in all medical or pharmaceutical matters. “The Fat Bastard Gazette” is only the opinion of informed nonprofessionals for the general edification and entertainment of the greater public.

No similarities to any existing names or characters are expressed or implied. We reserve the right to offend or support anybody, anything, or any sacred totem across the globe.